Henning at Hay

by Charlotte Reads Classics

On saturday I went to the Hay Festival for the very important single purpose of listening to Henning Mankell. If you’ve ever read anything I’ve written about him, you’ll know I’m a massive fan and generally think he’s amazing. Which is putting it in a very toned down way. Now, they say never to meet your heroes, but I’m ecstatic to report the opposite was true when I met mine. Throughout the talk he was nothing but intelligent, charming, an excellent storyteller, witty, interesting … and when he signed my book (swoon) he was very pleasant and made an effort to say something to me.

I got to tell my hero he was inspiring and I’ve been on cloud nine since. Incidentally if you don’t know much about Henning Mankell you should firstly read some of his books, and secondly look up his involvement in the Gaza flotilla, AIDS charities, his theatre company, and his philosophy: if one person is not free, no one is free.